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What's happening out in the world? Did it matter, does it now?
FBI calls half of populace with 9/11 doubts potential terrorist
Go to the following link for the whole story. Chilling, very chilling. Its starting to feel like the 30s in Germany...
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/358624
By Ralph Lopez
Sep 19, 2013 - yesterday in Crime
The FBI is instructing local police departments and "communities against terrorism" to consider anyone who harbors "conspiracy theories" about 9/11 to be a potential terrorist, in a circular released to local police departments.
The memo thus adds 9/11-official-story skeptics to a growing list of targets described by federal law enforcement to be security threats, such as those who express "libertarian philosophies," "Second Amendment-oriented views," interest in "self-sufficiency," "fears of Big Brother or big government," and "Declarations of Constitutional rights and civil liberties."
A newly released national poll shows that 48 percent of Americans either have some doubts about the official account of 9/11, or do not believe it at all.
for the sake of clarity....
I googled Sinead O' Conner and Annie Lennox and both have been in the news very recently due to strongly vocalizing their opinions about the recent Miley Cyrus "performance" at the VMA's and the exploitation of women in a pornographic sense by the music industry. Not taking sides here by any means, and I can't speak for RL, but I'm pretty sure that this is what he has been referring to; not name calling to Anna.
Anywhoooo....has anyone out there had a current event with chocolope? Looks yummy! :)))))
Catchy Feely Twerky Monkey
very perceptive, SL. the beauty of google search, for those not up-to-date with their pop princesses.
sex, sexuality, sexual imagery and nudity is NORMAL.
people can hurt others due to lack of guidance, wayward/absent parenting, oppression and frustration. although this doesn't account for persons brought up in a loving, cultured, educated environment who commit appalling crimes against women. this is an area for cognitive neuroscience, not finger-pointing and scapegoats.
images of the body, of healthy celebration and of one of the most beautiful, pleasurable and fulfilling acts that human beings can enjoy and share with one another needs to be put into context. you don't throw the baby out with the bath water.
how demonstrably and utterly shameful to demonise a 20 year girl.
Think you missed the point
Though I have no idea what points Sinead and Annie were making and don't care enough to look it up.
Providing a context for those of us less willing to do a google search would be appreciated and might bring forth other opinions.
The Eleven
11 days now that the U.S. government has been shutdown. That's a complete paycheck for those that don't know. Our bills keep coming while our income is dwindling. As you may guess, we're not too happy with obstructionist Republicans, mostly Tea Party extreme conservatives, and we're mind-boggled by those who are furious with the President and Democrat controlled Senate. We've been taking it one day at a time, hiking, biking and traveling over to Topeka with my father-in-law whom is suffering from dementia. Haven't been camping due to our commitment to caring for the old boy. We're looking forward to a solution to the stalemate, as we are going to travel afar to visit a national park next week. The December credit card bill will be a butt kicker, just in time for the Christmas holiday.
Dunno about Annie
But Sinead O'Connor issued a long, somewhat repetitious, but heartfelt and effective old-female-rock-star-to-a-young-one saying that allowing an industry to make a buck out of prostituting her was not going to end well. This with particular regard to the "twerking" episode and the nekkid Wrecking Ball video.
This has been much commented upon in many quarters, including one music industry veteran who allowed as how it was a shame Miley had to hear this from Sinead instead of her parents.
I think the Sinead letter
sort of goes into the anthology that also contains Courtney Love's screed on the music industry. Out there maybe, but classic.
lesson learned...
my apologies to anyone I made feel uncomfortable or disrespected. The only pot I ever care to stir is usually sitting next to me.
I will now write, "I will attempt to keep my big keyboard shut" 100 times on the etherboard.
Knowing myself though, this will be met with limited success.... :)
Don't worry, Slo
I acknowledge Randy is light-years ahead of me. Good detective work on your part!
Well Ted, The Way You get around
I doubt you're living paycheck-to-paycheck. Still, I wish to express my deepest sympathy for the family crosses we all bear. Well, the unluckiest of us, or the luckiest ones in the lessons we learn. Well, you know what I mean...
Need I say it? The Tea Party has torn asunder the two-party system that sustains the Right's hegemony over us all. Whooda thunk it!
everything you need from the ships and the ice cream
Mary, Sinéad's long, drawn out letters may have been heartfelt, but are entirely ineffective and the method chosen to convey her feelings spectacularly poorly judged.Why not contact her directly and express concern, if she so desperately feels the need, instead of an 'open letter'? Her rambling was met with a rather delightfully witty response; some cute little put-downs which she immediately took exception to. If you don't like being called crazy, please refrain from acting in such a fashion.
As for Mrs. Lennox, her tiring call for a rating system for pop videos was rightfully shown the exit back in the eighties, along with the equally delusional rantings of Tipper Bore et al. May i humbly suggest a ratings system for banal, mediocre and instantly forgettable piano ballads, usually delivered with a teary eye at a Comic Relief event, accompanied by video screens projecting images of suffering African children.
Their views once again perpetuate the incoherent and illogical belief/myth that any woman working in pornography, nude modeling or the sex industry, is being manipulated, coerced, prostituted or pimped by men. For some lamentable reason, it would seem that certain women, sometimes men (usually when trying to impress in the company of women, truth be told), are deeply unhappy with their fellow gender openly celebrating their sexuality. The notion that women can enjoy and promote sex of their own accord appears unfathomable and sadly adds to the general condescension that females have to endure on a regular basis. Are we to attribute empowerment and strength only to the male of the species?
Miss Cyrus' parents have nothing to be ashamed of. She is a beautiful young girl enjoying herself and exploring her sexuality. And although Billy Ray has a hell of a lot to answer for; inflicting 'Achy Breaky Heart' on the world's population to name but one, that is a whole other kettle of slimy, white fish (mullet fish?) - his daughter's behaviour is not one of them.
Is 'Wrecking Ball' a great pop song? Not especially. Is the video an immense artistic achievement? Not really, although it's splendidly fun and everything a good pop video should be; certainly has a lot of people frothing (at both ends). Intention aside, (and be damned even, it's the results that are interesting), is it more/less entertaining than a bunch of guys (it usually is, isn't it?) essentially repeating the same songs, with minor adjustments and fluctuations in key for a living? (A question quite reasonably aimed at a large section of artists deified on this site). The answer? Hugely debatable.
Pornography, nudity and sex is not intrinsically a danger to women. To be more pertinent - in·trin·sic ( n-tr n z k, -s k). adj. 1. Of or relating to the essential nature of a thing; inherent.
Sex and the body in it's purest form is beautiful and to be encouraged.
I read the other day that there was an offer to Miley for $1 million to direct a porn movie. I hope she has the courage to accept this offer.
And Anna - i'm afraid i've no idea what you meant by your 'don't give in to denial - the news is what it is' comment. I can only assume that Slo Lettuce was correct in his guess and that you took my 'Shut up..' posts as personally directed at your good self. Although why you would think i would ever speak to you in such a fashion is beyond me and makes for rather a depressing thought.
It never is, never was and never will be my intention to tell anyone what they can or cannot express in this Forum. This should be a place for everyone.
Your views on this subject are hugely encouraged.
No offense, Lard-o
My buttons get pushed easily.
Your rant (twisted screed, whatever) was quite good but I'm sure you don't expect everybody to agree with you. There are a number of ways to look at this. Miley had the wholesome girl kid hero image to pull away from and she milked it for all it was worth in a sweet PR campaign.
Really, It's her PR people who should take a bow, not Miley. She was just choreographed. Sinead and Annie? Irrelevant! Sour grapes mixed with their own private versions of psychotherapy hell sessions.
I hate to sound banal but what was the line from Seinfeld about the traditional route of being spit out the bottom of the porn industry?
Anyway, sounded like you had something to say and you said it in your own inimitable way.
Now Playing: "The Republican Show!"
Yes, It has become high comedy-drama, this show featuring the Democrats, moderate and progressive and the Republicans, "Tea Party" and and "Old Guard". This year the table was set for an old-time political show-down between two factions of the Republican Party. They were at each others throats and neither wanted to give in because of well-funded primary challenges sure to come. The stakes were enormously high. As high as we have ever seen in our lifetime. One side of the Republican Party wanted to gamble with the full faith and credit of the the US Government (By shutting down the Federal Government as well as not voting to raise the debt ceiling by fully funding, without discrimination, the budget for 2013-14) as well as gut any trace of the first black president's legacy of universal healthcare through landmark legislation known as the "Affordable Care Act".
The other side of the party, the moderates, want to repeal, or at least drastically scale back, Social Security, Medicare, Food Stamps, Unemployment and all programs related to Aid to Families with Dependent Children. This is something that the upper 2% of the wealthy in this country have been screaming for since it's inception in the 1930s. These were seen by the wealthy at that time in history as a way to keep an uprising, increasingly organized, restive population from exploding due to hunger and unemployment during the dark, hard times of the Great Depression.
One US Senator, a first-termer named Ted Cruz associated with the Tea Party, went on a hell-bent 21 hour twisted screed on the Senate Floor in a maverick attempt to derail the President's health care act, which was about to go into effect. It was not a filibuster and had nothing to do with any strategy on the part of the Republican minority Senate leadership. It was his personal attempt to defund ObamaCare. What he ended up doing was putting the President's landmark healthcare legislation squarely in the spotlight for the American people to seriously look at, at exactly the time it was coming into effect by law. Senator Cruz effective attained a majority of support for the law where one had been formerly lacking.
In the meantime, the "Old Guard" leadership had become so distracted (McConnell; Boehner; Cantor) that they totally missed the fact that the Democrats were willing to begin negotiations with the Republicans budget numbers. In other words, they were already miles down the rail-road track toward a "Grand Bargain" that would have made decisive steps toward making accommodations in the budget for the wave of baby-boomers about to retire, enrolling in the vital social welfare programs that could never be cut before.
The result may very well be NO REFORM in those social welfare programs and the GOP permanently split as a party. One side becomes the the fiscally and socially conservative Tea Party "True Believers" and the "Socially Moderate, Polite, Play Fair, Republicans" who are still fiscally conservative, though not so vehemently so.
What has been pointed out before is that the Tea Party faction is willing to sew chaos by roiling the US and World Money Markets by playing with the default of the "Full Faith And Credit of the United States Government" by not paying the interest, and eventually the principle on those T-Bill Coupons.
This has been an amazing tale that is still unfolding...
bangerz & mashed
No apology necessary, Anna.We must say what we truly feel.
Orange Diamond
An exquisite 15 carat orange diamond is expected to fetch upwards of 15 million dollars at auction. Naturally occurring colored diamonds comprise approximately 5% of all diamonds. Those that are of this particular cut, color and clarity are extremely rare.
It is worth looking up this specimen if you have an excellent computer monitor and are into geological specimens of rarity and beauty.
Dude, I've got Banksy stamps for $500 a Bun!
Meanwhile, on the "Art" scene.
Banksy, the subversive British street artist, is two weeks into his month-long residency in New York. Every day this month, he has unveiled a new work around the city — a series of murals, videos, and two roaming trucks. Each new piece has attracted hordes of tourists and news crews.
On his website on Sunday, the artist announced that he had set up a stall along Central Park on Saturday — selling “100% authentic original signed Banksy canvases. For $60 each.” That’s right: Banksy, whose works sell for millions at auction, sold canvases for $60 on the streets of New York. And the most unbelievable part? Almost no one bought them.
It also calls into question the extent to which the art market has come to commodify the artist's work. More power to Banksy. May he continue to reveal the snobbatorium that is the NYC art scene.
Deal Reached, Damage Done
Ho Hum. It's like watching a pack of wolverines rip themselves apart. It cost the US Government approximately 20 Billion Dollars to fight the partisan fight over ObamaCare and the National Debt/Government Shutdown. The Chinese saw for themselves how bad we govern ourselves. Fitch had to threaten to downgrade our Triple A Credit rating (might still do it).
And we get to do this all over again next January....
GTed, I hope your wife retires soon so you can go on all the camping trips you want, worry-free.
Vacation time!
After 16 days of furlough, my wife drove off to work this morning at 6:30 am. She won't stay long, as she has vacation planned! Already wondering what the end of this continuing resolution will bring come mid-January?
the new economy: why the 1/4 pounder is now $500...
In the local news, a Milwaukee man, who owned 3 McDonald's restaurants, was arrested and indicted for drug trafficking and using his businesses to launder the "proceeds". The "drug trafficking" was nothing more than pot shipments from Cali. (Thanks, Cali.:) While I may be in the minority of only seeing this as nothing more than good 'ol innovative, entrepreneurial spirit,(and the money stayed in the US as well) let's face some facts, the real crime here was the proliferation of fast-food by owning 3 McDonalds!
A Slow But Steady Path
'Russia's official policy and attitude towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people has fallen down a slippery slope. This is a compilation by 24 left-field techno producers to raise money, awareness and show our support to the Russian LGBT people.'
http://lgbtrightsforrussianow.bandcamp.com/
My gratitude to own personal favourites - Perc, Scanner, Truss and Leyland James Kirby.
A compassionate display of sincerity, understanding and love for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people can be viewed here -
Only ignorance and fear among the uneducated leads to intolerance, hatred, torture and violence.
Spoiler Alert
Rhino to release "lost show" from the Family Dog at the Great Highway on November 29.Vinyl lovers will enjoy a double LP of an acoustic set from 4/18/70.
Dead.net will release a cd version on the same day.
This show was apparently billed as "Mickey Hart and the Heartbeats and Bobby Ace and His Cards from the Bottom of the Deck" Track listing as follows...
I Know You Rider
Don't Ease Me In
Silver Threads and Golden Needles
Friend of the Devil
Deep Elem Blues
Wake Up Little Suzie
Candyman
Cumberland Blues
New Speedway Boogie
Me and My Uncle
Mama Tried
Katie Mae
The Rub
Roberta
Bring Me My Shotgun
Mighty Flood
Black Snake
I didn't know where to post. This thread seemed as good as any.
Thanks PonchoBill
Marye has said elsewhere she doesn't know anything about it (but she'll update us) but I hope you're right. I love Dead acoustic from that era.
Flashback to 1967
I don't remember much about that fabled year of 1967. I was only 9 years old. What I do remember was the hippies my mother and father hated and the protests against the Vietnam War (which they also hated).
What I remembered most of all was the world series that year: Boston Red Sox vs. the St. Louis Cardinals. I lived in Boston and was a Cards fan. Still am.
46 years later the same match-up.
January 2014
I don't think we'll see Shutdown, Pt. 2 come January. The men and women who shut down the federal government in order to defund the Affordable Care Act (I refuse to call it Obama Care) did the exact opposite of what they were planning: they made it more appealing to the public. They've backed down, and now the Republican party needs to curl up in a hole and lick its wounds. There's a good chance that the 16 days our gov't was closed for business cost them yet another presidency, but I think we'll all have to sit back and wait to see how long it takes them to spin all this in their favor.
And, y'know, for the American people to forget it ever happened in the first place....
Ship Of Fools
Can we really blame this whole fiasco on freshman tea-party members, gerrymandered redistricting, and stupid Senate rules that require a super-majority?
I don't think so. Everybody knows the tea-party is a creation of the super-rich. Deficits have dropped by half under Obama. There is no reason to believe that deficits are going to sink our country. They haven't in the past and most probably won't in the future, if the right measures are taken. And good luck with that in the next 90 days!
Politicians are being called out for their stupidity and greed and self-contentedness. The Congressional Gym stayed open during the shutdown? One can imagine them in the steam room discussing how to cut health care for their staffers. With their new districts and a 90% re-election rate, they only thing they fear is a challenge in the primaries.
If Obama had been able to get 2/3rds of his agenda passed we'd have some needed new taxes and more human needs programs funded and infrastructure being worked on by Americans bringing home middle-class paychecks. It's not the Congress stopping this (except for the Tea Partyers), they're not cruel and heartless enough. It's their super-rich handlers and bank-rollers like the Koch Brothers.
I believe the real reason we have this mess is that the WASPS who sit on interlocking Corporate Boards of Directors (with very few women) are still choking that they couldn't buy the last election. They are choking that a black man is president. They want no residue of him left after 8 years. No clue that he existed. They want the White House fumigated after the Obama's move out.
But most of all? They want the Fed. to continue with Quantitative Easing (printing 85 Billion Dollars a month). That money is in corporate hands and the stock market keeps hitting new highs, awash with inflated money spent only on sure things.
Look for your benefits like health care, social security and medicare to get cut while the dollars you saved for retirement to shrink due to inflation (unless you have a massive 401k). Most of all, don't look for anything meaningful to happen for the rest of the Obama presidency, never mind the next 90 days.
Ship Of Fools.
RE: Ship Of Fools
The only question now is how badly the supporters and financiers of the Republican Party are willing to shoot themselves in the foot between now and the next election. Intelligent people like us won't soon forget what so recently transpired, but how much of the general American public will? True, there are some individuals who blame the shutdown on Obama for whatever reason they heard on Fox News, but I get the feeling we'll be seeing at least another 4 years with a Democrat in the White House come 2016.
And yes, the glass is half full. Why do you ask?
Illary! Illary! Illary!
The campaign cry of Hispanics for Hillary Clinton in 2008. Hillary Clinton will almost certainly be the next president of the United States. She is already lining up the entire party behind her. Biden might make a token challenge, but it will be just that.
I think, Parkas, the Republicans are in a battle for their own party with the Tea Party dufuses and, amazingly, it is a real question if they can herd enough of them into the mainstream to put up a real fight. There is real conjecture right now if the Repubs. can hold on to the House in the mid-terms. A few more of them have to croak or resign but it's close.
The more important question is who can they put up for president? The Dems. are praying that it is Ted Cruz but it won't be. Paul Ryan could step up to the plate and do some real horse-swapping on the budget. If the Dems. aren't careful in obstructing him and not giving away most of the entitlements they could have Ryan in their face front and center for the next election. John Huntsman is very well-connected and also comes to mind.
Who else is there out there with enough charisma and organizational support? Nobody, unless you count Anthony Weiner, who is on the cover of GQ this month. Maybe the American people will vote for his junk!
As Jerry used to sing: "...it doesn't really matter anyway!" Hillary will be no different than Bill Clinton who was described as the best Republican president we ever had. Rich people and corporations have both parties cradled in their hands and no vetted candidate will stray far from interests of the rich.
bundles of virtual cake
good luck Ruby Tandoh!
we're supporting you tonight!
Speaking of Weiner
The former congressman had this to say about himself last week: "I’m just an empty, soulless vessel." This came as a real surprise to me because I had written him off as a completely self-absorbed narcissist who possesses no awareness of how others perceive him.
Good point, Mike
Who'd have thought Anthony could have stood there and had a satori about his own junk? Wow, I do remember being truly impressed when I heard that on a TV news program. So self-effacing (Or is that self-Effexoring?) Anthony Wiener has a revelation about his own genitalia? So honest, so unpretentious -- it almost makers you want to cry
You know what? On 2nd thought, I think this was just a relatively unsophisticated attempt to drum up sympathy by using a canned line. My heart still goes out to him as a fellow suffering human being...
Politicians! Will they stop at nothing? No, they will stop at nothing. This particular one is lucky he has a wife who will stand by him.
;
Drone Proliferation
The Obama Administration has accelerated the drone program in it's six years in office. It has had good success in taking out terrorists in countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen as well as Libya and Mali. While a high percentage of kills are on terrorists there is an alarmingly high number of civilian casualties that are drawing attention to this new form of warfare.
The White House Spokesperson Jim Carney, I believe, spent a large amount of time yesterday defending the drone program as one of the most effective types of warfare in combating terrorism. The problem is that human rights groups are underlining the US non-cooperation with international protocols on the rules of war concerning drones as they are being developed. More and more countries are acquiring drone warfare capacity and it has been pointed out that it is in the US interest to make sure some type of internationally agreed rules of drone war are agreed to.
One of the main things is that the relatively high percentage of non-combatants (24%; 33% - 50%?) who are being killed. Nobody really knows as it is classified information. What is known is that the US has a very spotty record in compensating obviously innocent victims. One grandmother standing in a field who was killed by an errant drone strike had her family compensated $100. This in contrast to high publicity massacres like Sgt. Bales slaughter of 13 women and children which drew compensation of $25-50,000 each. I don't think I'd want to be the government official in charge of assigning a value to a human life in a foreign country.
Then there is the question of the cost of human empathy on drone operators. They are not eligible for PTSD benefits as they are not considered to be in a war zone. Yet they do get to graphically see their mistakes. There is now a large body of evidence that the toll from human empathy related to errant strikes is taking a huge psychological toll, such as binge drinking for days on end ending in blackouts. These people are commuting to work on highways in our country. The contrast between their job and life in the US must take a terrible cost, especially if they have ever actually traveled abroad to the countries where their drones strike.
It would behoove the US to participate in international protocols before this type of warfare starts proliferating to our own foreign-based military installations and homeland. And if the percentage of human casualties who are innocent is as low as claimed by the military then more compassionate payments should be calibrated based on the real value of human life.
the sludge of lazy misogyny
'What year is this?''It's 2013, mate.'
'Really?'
'Yes.'
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/22/great-british-bake…
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/21/great-british-bake…
Sadly indicative of society today.
Never to be served with a slice of cake.
RE: Speaking of Weiner
I'm sorry, but am I the only one who finds it side-splittingly hilarious that a guy named Anthony WEINER is obsessed with his weiner? C'mon, this is comedy of the utmost quality! Still, Carlos Danger is a pretty bad-ass alias.
...Sorry, just needed to get that off my chest.
RE: Drone Proliferation
See, I have the exact opposite viewpoint when it comes to drone strikes being effective in the war on terror. What could possibly be better for our international image than that of a faceless nation that has so little value for human life that we send out robots to do our bidding? Has anyone not seen the movie 'The Kingdom'? Where invading the Middle East and killing an entire family suspected of terrorist activities is creating more terrorists by building resentment for the U.S.? How are giant flying robots that kill indiscriminately supposed to make that better? At least when we send in real troops, it puts the value of all their lives on an even playing field.
It also gets me thinking about 'Ender's Game', which hits theaters soon. If you aren't already familiar with the story, it takes genius-level children, puts them in "training exercises" designed to simulate actualy battle situations, and later reveals that all their training was actually--for lack of a better term--live drone combat. The idea of turning actual warfare into little more than an interactive video game is truly sickening, and I hope some level of international regulations come to fruition before we have to start worrying about drone strikes here on U.S. soil.
Filthy Slag!
"...caring almost to the point of derangement about your creme patissiere is the whole point of Bake-Off"
Really, Mr. Lard? Reminds of Better Midler, Glen Close and Nicole Kidmann in "The Stepford Wives". I grew up in the Catholic version.
Carlos D*A*N*G*E*R!
I think everybody got it Parkas. What struck me as side-splittingly funny is the picture he sent of his weiner over the internet and the tall, skinny, middle finger he blew off the press with at the fifth place primary finish. All digits grow the same? Shoe size =?
Too much!
You won't have Nixon's Dick to kick around anymore!
@Parkas; Re: Drones
I happen to agree with you. The only question that remains is whether or not nation-states, who feel compelled to wage war, find it much less costly in blood & treasure to do it with drones. They do. Also, in the kind of low-intensity conflict now being fought in which the enemy hides around the unknowing civilian population the method of war is seen as the most humane. It may well be. However...
I agree wholeheartedly with you that every innocent victim creates an entire family, clan and tribe against the offending country. There couldn't be a better recruiting tool. Thanks for the recommendation of "The Kingdom" and "Ending Game", I'll be sure to put them on my bucket list.
I can't help but recalling the naming of Iran's drone a couple years ago -- "Ambassador Of Death"... What's next "Diplomat of Doom"? "Envoy of Entropy"? "Counsel of Cremation"? That was around the time that the Chinese hacked one of our drones and had it land in Iran. The US was forced to ask politely for it's Reeper drone back. Iran's answer was the launch of it's bright red "Ambassador".
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
I meant to mention this yesterday, but does anyone here watch the Marvel superhero movies or the new TV series, "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."? If you do, and if you were watching this past Tuesday, you may have noticed a little current events name-dropping; our recent information leakers Mr./Ms. Manning and Mr. Snowden got something on an honorable nod. I'm sure it beats having a lingerie ad campaign sponsored in your honor...or does it?
War On The Poor
The stimulus will give out on November 15th for SNAP (Food Stamps) and the program will lose 39 billion dollars. I am watching Senator Pat Leahy of VT right now say that there will be NO Farm Bill this year (with subsidies for big food producers) if this cut stays in place. We have House minority whip Eric Cantor to blame for these cuts.
There is already hunger in this country. Hunger everywhere, in the most surprising places as well as the islands of third world poverty some Indian Reservations have become. Children are the future of this country. There aren't enough of them and we need those there are to be highly educated. Instead, they will be stunted in their growth from the cut in food stamps.
It's not just food stamps. It's also voter registration, Section 8 housing; Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Every program designed to help the poor. Meanwhile the wealthy and large corporations benefit massively from tax loopholes you could drive an aircraft carrier through! Money is wasted horrendously on weapons that are needless but funded because jobs have been apportioned to all districts in the 50 states for maximum Congressional support. America has spent more in Iraq and Afghanistan, per capita, in the last 15 years on all things (the least being direct economic aid), mostly on deadly weaponry and our troops and our support for them -- THAN WE HAVE SPENT ON OUR OWN POOR.
What is wrong with this country? What basic human empathy do we lack? How can the Congress turn it's back on it's own poor constituents while lining their filthy pockets with the bribes of the rich! How much coke and heroin and pain pills and tranquilizers do they have to absorb to be this numb and inhuman?
Tell me how these people claim to follow the purported Son of God named Jesus who preached help for the poor? There is not just a special place in hell for these revolving 535 - they each have VIP boxes and merit greater special attention from the devil's helpers! Time will pass oh so slowly for them as they suffer these sins.
This rant is far from over but I'm calling it a week today. Enjoy the Fall Classic if you're so inclined.
Ender's Game
Not Ending. The protagonist is named Ender.
I need to get around to reading that one of these days too.
thermionic valve on the threshold of filament purgatory
absolutely! creme patissiere is a nightmare, darling.
but thanks for your comments on the two articles. really insightful...
oh, and my upmost sympathy for growing up with a Catholic anything; my heart goes out to you.
Frontline....
does anybody watch Frontline on PBS? Some of the very best reporting on specific topics anywhere, imo. At your leisure, try to make some time to watch "Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria" pbs.org/frontline. It is a current event that affects all of us and our loved ones. This show is a two-parter with part two to be broadcast in the Spring of '14.
The end of effective antibiotics is here, it's worldwide and it's deadly serious; you'll be glad to know that the very last dedicated super-research facility for antibiotic drugs in the US was in Connecticut and it was closed in 2011 by its owner, Pfizer, due to "portfolio management decisions". In other words, Pfizer's investors "demanded return on investment"; boner and (life-saving)cholesterol pills do just that, life-saving antibiotics do not, however. (Although, to their credit, Pfizer was the last research company to fold its antibiotic division. Their competitors had done so years in advance for the same reason, not enough ROI).
Part 1 focuses on three specific cases and the origins of the bacteria and bacterial genes which currently have complete resistance to ALL known antibiotics EVER developed anywhere in the world. It also gets into the economics of drug development ie., what a human life is worth. Part 2 will focus on the incredible overuse of antibiotics in our food supply and, more specifically, what it is doing to the animals we eat and, ultimately, ourselves.
I'm cynically assuming that when a prominent Senator's loses a loved one in a US hospital from one of these infections, which, by the way, is exactly where these are becoming more frequently contracted, investigations will ensue and we'll all get to hear about the shocking lack of funding and research on the 5:30 national news. Before that happens though, you can catch it on Frontline.
Antibiotics research
Scary. Hate to inform you Slo, but the Network news has been reporting on this subject for two years -- probably since the closure of Pfizer's lab. Every three months or so they have another story of impending catastrophe.
Staying away from your local hospital is highly advised if you can possibly do it.
Why doesn't Congress appropriate 40 Billion or so to the CDC to set up it's own lab and surge up a dozen or so new antibiotics?